{ Islam from inside }

(Sura 39: verse 42) - To die/to sleep

Added April 15, 2006

Sura 39, verse 42 reads as follows:

"God takes the souls (al-anfus) at the
time of their death, and those that die not during their sleep; then He
withholds those on whom He has passed the decree of death and sends the
others back till an appointed term; most surely there are signs in this
for a people who reflect."
(Qur'an 39:42)

Verses such as these are
not easily susceptible to an analytical approach since they hint at
realities that are not readily amenable to scientific, experimental, or
discursive knowledge. They point at metaphysical truths which we can
attempt to unravel through various means but which ultimately we cannot
know with certainty except through actual experience, whether that
experience is gifted to someone while they are still alive or whether
we experience it, as we all ultimately will, after our physical death
when metaphysical realities which we only fuzzily and abstractly
understood while alive will become piercingly clear to us. "...But now
We have removed from you your veil, so your perception today is
piercing...." (Qur'an 50:22) Of course, at that point we will
not be
able to return to describe what we learn. So we are left with
revelation, the guidance of the Prophets and awliya, the various
writings of those who have wrestled with such questions, and our own
struggle to understand and attempt to discern possible meanings. And
our understanding is subject to many limitations - we are restricted to
seeking analogies and likenesses that may provide only a partial
conceptual understanding of realities that remain largely unseen and
unknown.

To unfurl the
possible meanings requires interpretation and interpretation is
dependent on the type, level, and depth of knowledge and understanding
- which is why it is prudent and realistic to indicate that any given
interpretation (of such verses) is only a possible meaning and not a
certainty - since
all understanding is hemmed in by our many limitations (and complete
certainty was only in the experiential knowledge of the
Prophet and the Imams).

In the verse "God takes the souls
(al-anfus)...", 'taking the souls' at the time of sleep does not
necessarily refer to any displacement in space. In other words it is
not necessary to think of it in terms of some mysterious force or
ghostlike substance leaving the physical body and then later returning
to it.

During wakefulness, our face is turned towards this world and
experiences a particular mode of existence and during sleep it is
turned inwards and experiences another enigmatic mode of existence.

When we sleep our consciousness fades and we are no longer in charge of
our own selves - our hold on our self becomes very tenuous - automatic
regulating processes step in and maintain us while our consciousness
sublimates to a different level. Our nafs (our self) is no longer in
"our" charge but is held in a different alternate state. God has set up
a system by which our nafs (our individual self) is held intact in some
manner until we wake
- He "takes" and holds our nafs.

"And He it is Who takes your souls at
night (in sleep), and He knows what you acquire in the day, then He
raises you up therein that certain conditions may be fulfilled...."
(Qur'an 6:60)

As well, "taking" can have the sense of bringing something close to
oneself. Proximity, in relation to God, cannot however be conceived of
in any physical sense.

Nearness to God is not dependent on any kind of spatial or
temporal motion since concepts like place and time are not applicable
to the One who created space and time and through Whom these qualities
of the material world subsist.
Rather the nafs may be said to have extension into different levels of
reality than the one of which we are consciously aware. It has a
simultaneous existence and presence in this world and others (in this
level of reality and others). In sleep, we may
have flashes and glimpses of these other levels - of a realm in which
traits, tendencies, and knowledge can take on forms and shapes not
dependent on the physical matter of this world (much as desires, fears,
anxieties etc. can take on symbolic forms and images in dreams). This
is possibly why
sleep is said to be a likeness of death - it can provide a glimpse into
another mode of the nafs existence (one in which our internal knowledge
and
character traits manifest as external forms and events).

In sleep we lose consciousness of the material world and we may receive
a glimpse (through consciousness turning inwards) of other realms as
well as fitful and fleeting symbolic indicators (of the state of our
own souls) in the form of dreams. We enter into the world of our nafs
which manifests its contents in varying ways during sleep. So our
consciousness moves from one modality to another. It has a simultaneous
existence on multiple planes although in wakefulness we are only aware
of one of these. In sleep our awareness of one level weakens and
recedes and we enter into a different modality and different awareness.

This occurs in regular sleep and it also happens in the permanent
sleep of death - where one
suffers illness or injury which causes suspension of consciousness. In
sleep or on the road to death (no matter what form that death takes or
how slowly or swiftly it arrives) there will be a transition (even if
only a momentary instance) during which consciousness withdraws from
its awareness and perception of this world. If this withdrawal is only
caused by sleep then the consciousness is able to later transition back
to
wakefulness in this world - otherwise (if caused by death) it will
remain intact in the other.

None of this requires any physical displacement as the nafs may be
likened to a configuration (relating to the individuality of the
person) rather than a thing in and of itself - a configuration which
overlaps lower and higher worlds. Along with its existence in this
world it has a simultaneous presence in higher (deeper) worlds even
though in most cases it may be intellectually and consciously unaware
of this. If the physical form is destroyed in this world (through
injury, age, illness, accident etc.), the nafs continues its existence
in the other higher realm – it’s configuration, it’s form is maintained
in that realm - "...then He
withholds
those on whom He has passed the
decree of death...." (Qur'an 39:42)

Note: Existence has a
unitary but hierarchic quality that is suggested
by the Qur'anic verses which describe the various gradations of
existence as a hierarchy in which the higher levels envelop and subsume
the lower levels (see sidebar text). “He
regulates the
affair from the heaven to the
earth…” (Qur'an 32:5) So the configuration of our world is
congruent
with the
levels which envelop it although these other levels remain unseen to
us. So nearness and remoteness in reference to these other levels is
not a reference to physical distance since the levels envelop one
another (from higher to lower).

If the nafs is the psychic
(not
physical) form (configuration) that has a concurrent presence in
multiple worlds then the destruction of the physical form only means
that the physical matter which held that configuration is no longer
capable of holding it - but the configuration continues it's existence
in another
higher modality - a modality which encompasses and overlaps the lower
modality.

The nafs has an essential connection (and presence) with these higher
modalities.

The first trace, the first characteristic that was laid down for every
human nafs is the reality of our acknowledgment of God and the
recognition of His Lordship. This is the covenant mentioned in verse
7:172 of the Qur'an.

“And when your Lord brought forth
from the children of Adam...all their descendants, and made them bear
witness against their own
souls: Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes! we bear witness. Lest you
should say on the day of resurrection: Surely we had no knowledge of
this.” (Qur’an 7:172)

This represents the first key characteristic of the nafs - one that
represents a foundational experience and one which defines it's
essential quality, since it occurs above space and time and thus is
free of the limitations of space and time that characterize and delimit
our existence in this world. Verse 7:172 concludes by stating that this
experience removes human excuses that they were unaware of the reality
of the human situation - this is because the nafs is pervaded with the
ability to know the reality of God's Lordship since this reality was
shown to it at a higher (deeper) and more substantial level of reality
than this material world we are currently in.

As the Qur'an asks: "Certainly you
have known the first state of being.
Why, then, do you not recollect (the higher/deeper reality)?" (Qur'an
56:62)

God unfolded all human beings (in a realm above time and place) from
Adam in a pure unexperienced state and took a covenant from them - the
taking of the covenant was to allow them to later recognize what he had
woven into their essential, unclouded nature (that, at root their nafs
was connected and bonded to Him - that their existence had a real
presence and connection beyond the material world in higher worlds) -
this covenant and our ability to
recognize it is encoded in our nature. Then He allows human beings to
emerge in various times and places in the world of matter and within
each one a nafs unfolds that is a combination of many varying and
different
knowledges, influences, abilties, and restrictions. But at its root,
each nafs has a connection to
it's point of origin and through this connection it has a simultaneous,
vertically connected existence rising through many levels. The physical
matter of the body is perishable but the nafs is the root through which
individual human existence persists after death.

"Every son of Adam will decay and be
eaten by the dust, except for his
root. With this he was created and with this he will be recomposed."
(Prophetic hadith)

Note: The Qur'an is said
to have descended in an instant in it's
entirety upon the Prophet's (spiritual) heart - it was then
subsequently gradually revealed to him and manifested in individual
sections and fragments
over a period of 23 years. In a similar way all of Adam's descendants
were simultaneously in their entirety brought before God (in a
spiritual realm and made to understand God's Lordship) and then folded
back into Adam to be subsequently born
in different times and places throughout the entirety of human history.

Because of this first substantial relation of our nafs to God, our
knowledge of God in this world is, in large part, predicated upon
gaining knowledge of the essence of our own nafs. God shows us His
signs "...on the horizons and within
our own selves" (Qur’an 41:53).
External existence is a sign of God but in order to become aware of the
relevance of the signs we have to have an internal configuration
attuned to seeing the world with a particular level of awareness and
sincerity. It is not only the thing seen that is of importance but the
vision and the perspicacity of the one doing the seeing. God always has
a relation of nearness to us - "He
is nearer to you than your life-vein" (Qur’an 50:16) But for us
to draw nearer to Him, we have
to
embark on a journey of knowledge of what is configured within our own
selves.

This becomes possible through the substantive bond we have with God
through our nafs. To draw near to God we unfold the capability
and the knowledge that is at the root of our own nafs - a process which
is
tied, to a great extent, to our self-knowledge - to understanding and
mastery of our nafs. This relation and
connection between knowledge of God and the nafs is indicated in the
famous hadith "He who knows his self
(his nafs) knows his Lord.” It is a
journey from unawareness towards awareness and a movement of sincere
and profound transformation of one's internal configuration - a
transformation that emerges from an understanding of the
true state of affairs.

"(The distance) from the place of
my feet to my Lord’s Throne, is that a person sincerely says 'There is
no god but God'". (Imam Ali)

LayerED Reality

"....all existents have descended from God, and all of them return
to Him. In some verses (of the Qur'an) there is talk of the
manifestation, emanation, and descent of the world from the divine
realm. In others, the return of things to Him is spoken of. A third
group of verses mention both these movements, in both a general and
specific way. The verse, “…surely we
are God's and to Him we shall surely return,” (Qur'an 2:156)
mentions in general the origin and destination of the movement of human
beings. The following verse, on the other hand, outlines the descent of
all things, including man:

"And there is not a thing but with Us
are the treasures of it, and We do not send it down but in a known
measure." (Qur'an 15:21)

The use of the word “thing” in the above verse is such that it includes
all the objects of the natural world and everything that can be
conceived....

Man and the world pass through several stages in their arc of descent
from the highest level (from which the arc of ascent begins) to the
lowest, and they continue to traverse the stages of the arc of ascent,
back to their origin....

Now, every level or stage is termed “visible” relative to the levels
above it and “unseen” in reference to the ones below. In this
way, the natural world is absolutely visible and the Divine Essence,
which transcends all levels and comprehends them, is the absolute and
utterly unseen or inner. The worlds situated anywhere between these two
extremes – even the first stage or world of the treasures – are
according to their various aspects known as either visible or unseen.

The coming and going of things to and from this world in two arcs of
descent and ascent – along with the names that are given to the stages
of this movement – can be seen to be a cyclic movement.... The apex
would be the Absolute Being; the first stage down would be the treasure
house (also called jabarūt, divine decree, guarded tablet, the world of
intellects, the world of ideas). The next stage would be the isthmus
(also called dominion, measure, imaginal world). The last and bottom
stage would be the natural world. In this hierarchal representation of
being, all things and realities – both simple and composite – are seen
to descend from God. (This includes) the Qur’ān itself, “Surely We sent it down on the Night of
Decree.”

Every higher level surrounds, envelops and comprehends the levels lower
than it. Subsequently, every lower level falls under the dominion
of the level above it. Every dominion – with respect to that which it
encompasses and dominates – can be referred to as a “heaven”.
Correspondingly, every dominated realm – in comparison to its dominion
– can be called an “earth”. In the same way that light and water
descend from the sky to the earth of this lower and natural world,
Divine Grace and Mercy is showered down from the spiritual skies and
heavens to the realms below and the kingdom hereunder. Hence, the
affairs of the earth are made and managed (encompassed) by (the higher
realms). “He regulates the affair
from the heaven to the earth…”

(quoted from Shuja Mirza's translation of "Existence
and
the Fall" by Hamid
Parsania)

About this article

Anyone who reads the Qur'an is likely to be struck by the unique
nature of its construction, its unusual and constantly shifting rhythms
and the sudden transmutations and displacements in its subject matter.
At first this ever changing literary terrain seems an obstacle to
understanding, but the more time one spends with this book, the more
organic, the more natural the flow of its words feel. It is almost
like flying over an ever-changing landscape - rolling valleys
punctuated by jagged rocks, forests and plains giving way to upthrust
mountains, high plateaus broken by deep lakes, deserts sprinkled
with oasis' and cleft by canyons. Despite the variety of the forms,
despite the startling contrast of adjacent features, a complex organic
beauty underlies and unites all the various elements. These "tafsirs"
emerged from numerous brief scattered notes made while reading the
qur'an (along with numerous commentaries and the works of various
scholars whose profound analyses strongly effected my views) and
reflecting on its content. As well, for a number of years
I have participated in a hallakha, a qur'anic study circle, and many of
the
tafsirs presented here were originally researched for presentation at
that forum.